Nonwoven webs are generally formed on forming surfaces. Typical forming surfaces include forming wires and forming drums. Forming wires are generally a woven mesh material. The woven mesh material can be made from polymeric materials or can be made from metals. Typically, the side of the nonwoven web which is formed adjacent the forming wire will have some of the surface characteristics of the forming wire with respect to topographery.
Nonwoven fabrics or webs are useful for a wide variety of applications such as diapers, feminine hygiene products, towels, recreational or protective fabrics and as geotextiles. The nonwoven webs used in these applications may be simply a fabric of a single type of material, such as spunbond nonwoven web, but are often in the form of nonwoven fabric laminates such as, for example, spunbond/spunbond laminates or spunbond/meltblown/spunbond (SMS) laminates. Laminates with other materials are also possible, such as with films, woven or knitted fabrics and paper.
In many of these applications, it is necessary for the surface of the nonwoven web or nonwoven web laminate to be abrasion resistant. Likewise, it is also necessary for the user of these products to perceive that the nonwoven web or nonwoven web laminate is durable and has a surface with a very low degree of fiber fuzziness.
Nonwoven webs and nonwoven web laminates have also been used as filter media. When used as a filter media, the nonwoven web not only must provide a high filter efficiency, i.e., prevent fine particles from passing through, but also needs to provide a high throughput, i.e., maintain the pressure drop across the filter medium as low as possible over the useful life. In addition, the useful service life of a filter medium must not be too short as to require frequent cleaning or replacement. However, these performance requirements tend to be inversely correlated. For example, a high efficiency filter medium tends to create a high pressure drop, severely restricting its throughput capability and service life. In addition to these properties, in many applications, filtration materials are required to have structural integrity by themselves. Further, filtration materials need to have properties so that the material can be converted into various shapes and which will then hold that shape.
There is a need in the art for an abrasion resistant nonwoven web or laminate which has reduced surface fuzziness. In addition, it is also desirable to have a filter media having these properties.